Waffenamt Codes As Many Believe

On the internet: http://claus.espeholt.dk/mediearkiv/waae.pdf - sorted by WaA – then Period http://claus.espeholt.dk/mediearkiv/waae-a.pdf - sorted by Object – then Period http://claus.espeholt.dk/mediearkiv/waae-b.pdf - sorted by Factory – then Period http://claus.espeholt.dk/mediearkiv/waae-c.pdf - sorted by Place – then Period The list does not represent an exact “science”, but is based on observations of various items of equipment. I try to use only 100 percent sure observations - but mistakes are possible anyway. 2021.09.26 Das Heereswaffenamt (From various sources: Emil Leeb: Aus der Rüstung des Dritten Reiches, Handbook on Ger- man Military Forces 1945 (US War Department), Richard D. Law: Backbone of the Wehr- macht, others) Collectors and other observers of WWII German military artifacts, especially weapons, often see small die stamps on them with a stick figure representation of the German Reich eagle and a number. Commonly referred to as “Waffenamts”, they were inspection stamps which identified the item as being inspected and passed, at some stage of its manufacturing process for the German Army. Complex items such as firearms would have multiple Waffenamts on them. When the Nazis took power in 1933, Germany started a massive rearmament program. A part of this process was the Heereswaffenamt (He.Wa.A. – Army Ordnance Office) hereafter referred to as the HWA. The beginnings of the HWA were in the Waffen- und Munitionsbeschaffungsamt of the First World War but the Waffenamt was founded officially by orders dated Nov. 8., 1919 and renamed as Heereswaffenamt on May 5., 1922. German weapon inspections in the factories themselves were overseen by the Heeresab- nahmewesen (Army Acceptance Organization), also known as the Abnahmeabteilung des Heereswaffenamts (Wa.Abn. - Acceptance Section of Army Ordnance Office) hereafter referred to as the Abnahme. This group was a subsidiary of the HWA. The Heeres-waffenamt was headed by General der Artillerie Professor Becker until sometime in 1940, when it was taken over by General der Artillerie Emil Leeb until its end in 1945. Starting in 1935, the HWA grew along with Germany’s growing military rearmament program. With the onset of actual military operations, the HWA was dramatically expanded as the Army’s need for equipment and weapons increased rapidly. In 1939 the Heereswaffenamt, including the Abnahme had: HWA (HeWaA) Abnahme (WaAbn) Offiziere (Officers) 271 71 Beamte (Officials) 352 234 Unteroffiziere (NCO’s) 174 132 Mannschaften (Enlisted men) 2800 2637 3597 3074 By 1940, the Abnahme had 25.000 men (estimated – based on the 1939 distribution ratios): Offiziere (Officers) 577 Beamte (Officials) 1903 Unteroffiziere (NCO’s) 1074 Mannschaften (Enlisted men) 21637 25000 During its lifetime, the HWA and the Abnahme were reorganized as German needs changed. It was also subject to staffing reversals near the end of the war, and was reorganized in 1944 and again in 1945. Manpower shortages were such in the Wehrmacht, that in the middle of 1944, 8,000 Abnahme personnel were released for front line service, which cut its total personnel by one third. In the 1940 time frame the 25,000 Abnahme inspectors were in five Departments, which had 14 regional Armament Inspectorates. The Abnahme regional offices were located in: Königsberg, Breslau, Berlin, Dresden, Hannover, Erfurt, Nürnberg, Munster, Stuttgart, Vienna, Radom, Prague, Paris, and Brussels. There may have been a few additional areas in the occupied countries, but this has not been confirmed as to number or location. There was one Abnahmeinspizient (Acceptance Inspector) in each Inspectorate area, who acted through the assigned personnel (Acceptance Commissions) at the various factories. The Abnahme themselves, because of their relatively small numbers, were oftentimes helped by specially trained factory personnel to assist them at some of the factories. The Abnahme were responsible for the testing and acceptance of all weapons, ammunition, and other items before delivery to the Wehrmacht. They were instructed on what to do by Technische Lieferbedingungen (TL’s) issued by the various Waffenprüfamter sections listed below: WaPrüf 1 Ballistische und Munitionsabteilung (Ballistics and Munitions Sec- tion of Army Ordnance [Ammunition]}. WaPrüf 2 Infanterieabteilung (Infantry Section of Army Ordnance) WaPrüf 2 I Rifles WaPrüf 2 II Machine Guns WaPrüf 2 III General Equipment WaPrüf 3-12 Other Items The inspection Officers and Officials of the Abnahme that were assigned to the various armament factories were originally Wehrmacht armourers, who were given civil service status and the rank (equivalent) of a Leutnant [W] (Waffenamt Second Lieutenant). In preparation for their duties the new personnel were sent to a four week Heereswaffenmeisterschule (Army Ordnance Armourers School) in Berlin at Spandau. At the end of the training, a Technical Inspector test was given, and if it was successfully passed the applicant became an Oberleutnant [W] (Waffenamt First Lieutenant). By 1939 almost all of the personnel who had started in 1935 were promoted to Technical Inspector First Class with the equivalent rank of Hauptmann [W] (Waffenamt Captain). As an example of how the system worked, 98K rifle production plants had an average of ten Officials employed at each factory that made the rifle. Several Ordnance and Technical Sergeants would also be assigned to each of the rifle manufacturers, as well as the Abnahme Mannschaften, and factory helpers as needed. At Mauser Werke, a very large factory, a Technical Administrator was assigned who had the rank of a Major [W]. In some cases, the acceptance location for a given area was used by surrounding factories as well, and was called an Heeresbezirk-Abnahmestelle, (Army Area Acceptance place). Just a curiosity: In the inner yard of HWA there is WW I memorial for the fallen members of “Artillerie-Prüfungskommission” (artillery examining board) with the statue of Saint Bar- bara who holds a grenade in her hand. She is the patron saint for artillerymen, miners and blasters, and she has “survived” WW2. When a Waffenamt Officer (Acceptance Inspector) assumed command of an inspection team, he received a commission number and a corresponding numbered set of Wehrmachtabnahmestempel (common term: Waffenamt Stamps). When the Waffenamt Officer was transferred to another factory, he took his stamps with him, but left the rest of his inspection team at the factory for the next Officer. The Waffenamt Officer in charge could move from one factory to another. Some examples are: (WaA214) at the J.P. Sauer factory in Suhl in 1938, to the Berlin Lübecker Maschinenfabriken in 1939, or (WaA63) Mauser-Werke in Oberndorf a.N. (Germany) to BRNO in Czechoslovakia in 1940. These transfers were not uncommon. The total possible Waffenamt numbers ranged from 1 to probably 999, and any gaps most likely indicate a situation where no Waffenamt Inspec- torates were activated. This is reflected in the actual number of known Waffenamt (Commis- sion) numbers. The Waffenamt stamps (dies) themselves often varied in size and sometimes design, de- pending on the time period when they were made or changed out. As dies were replaced, it was often with a simpler design as time went on, but with the same Waffenamt number. The different sizes and designs reflect a number of things, such as the size of the object being stamped, or the time period the die was made, or what the maker of a particular die stamp was capable of making at that time. Sometimes when old dies wore out, or broke, and could not be replaced in time, they reused old Waffenamt die stamps after modifying them. This practice is often seen with date stamps in 1944 as well, where they show only the number “4” instead of a “44”. There are also a few die stamps which have an alpha character suffix in addition to the number, such as an: A, B, C, or D. And there were spe- cialized inspection stamps used by the German Police and Luftwaffe as well. The Police stamps did not use numbers, but alpha characters instead. (Typically, it was the Police eagle along with alpha characters such as B, C, D F, K, or L). The Luftwaffe marked items have “Luft. (number)”. There may be other variations as well. See above some examples of WaA on starter tabs (from Myrvangs book about German MG’s). The two first are early types. Ink stamps were used on cloth for example – beware of fakes – and the WaA could also be etched instead of being stamped. There currently exists no official German book on Waffenamt codes as many believe. The headquarters in Wünsdorf not so far from Berlin was heavily bombed in the spring 1944 and was completely destroyed by bombing on March 15, 1945, so no archives from the Heer- eswaffenamt exist today, either in the USA or in Germany. After the first bomb attack the whole system was severely disrupted. It continued to function, but only marginally, until the war ended. Many factories produced war material practically to the German surrender. Some of these very late items may not show Waffenamts at all. Several factories produced weapons after the war was over, but without the Waffenamt stamps. However, there are usually other markings to differentiate them from wartime production. Punched card. Pawlas has reprinted the socalled LK Nummern (Lochkarte – punched card numbers). The lists indicates the structure of the “Abnahme” with places and with the LK numbers – but not the die-numbers. Because of personnel shortage in the “Abnahme”-or- ganisation, certain personnel at the factories were allowed to check the parts. This hap- pened already in 1942, but only to a small extent. The “Betriebsabnahme” (BA) used a BA- number with 5 digits. There was also a “Werksabnahme” (W.ab) but apparently only at Tele- funken.

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